Sandy Roads of Ichikazo
by Eilyfe
Summary: Tiny Plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. Due to a bureaucratic mess-up Team 7 has been forgotten. Now, two years later, Yamanaka Ino finally found the lost group of three - but they aren't what one would expect. (One-shot; no pairings).


Well, here's a tiny plot bunny. Now that I wrote it down and got it out of the way, I hope that I'll finally find the peace to write other stuff again.

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_One-shot / Plot bunny_

**_Sandy Roads of Ichikazo_**

_Written by Eilyfe_

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**Ichikazo - 15 years after the Kyuubi attacked Konoha**

"Listen closely now..."

"... and what am I supposed to hear?" Ino asked, deeply annoyed by the lax posture of the blond shinōbi in front of her.

After her recent promotion to the rank of Chunin, and the thereafter following break-up of the Ino-Shika-Cho team, she simply didn't get a break anymore. Four days ago, she had come back from her last mission, hoping beyond hope that it would be the interlude to some relaxations in Konoha's hot springs... only for her dreams, her desires to be shattered like particular fragile glass.

The Hokage, bless her soul – there weren't many other strong kunoichi a girl like her could aspire to become – had other plans however. Instead of relieving her sore muscles in warm water, she instantly had to set out again, this time toward a small village called Ichikazo – wedged between the green forests of Hi no Kuni and the seemingly endless desert of Kaze no Kuni it was one of the major trading posts of the area, if not _the_ major post.

"..."

And the Hokage needed an accurate status report from the team she had stationed there. Thus, Ino's thoughts came back full circle and she continued to stare at the blond guy in front of her, still not comprehending what he actually wanted from her.

"What you're supposed to hear? Well, everything, I'd say," the blond answered, a crooked smile tugging at his lips. "You wouldn't be much of a kunoichi if you didn't..."

"_That's_..." Ino's cheeks acquired a red hue, especially noticeable due to the many oil-lamps and torches that lit up the village.

Her brows furrowed and her turquoise eyes narrowed in on the shinōbi. Somehow his voice sounded familiar, and she could swear that she had met the guy before. The shinōbi was content to let her puzzle him out, leaning back even further and falling into the stack of hay without a care in the world, smugly moving a toothpick between his lips.

Then it clicked, all gears in her mind came to a grinding halt, and the usually unflappable Yamanaka pointed her finger accusingly at the relaxed young man in front of her.

"You-, You're Naruto!"

Blue eyes lit up in amusement, but he remained silent; the toothpick still rolling around between his lips. It was no wonder that she hadn't recognized him right off the bat. Two years under the burning sun, a lifestyle that differed completely from his old ways – many things had changed in regards to Uzumaki Naruto.

"But-, that means... Sakura and Sasuke are here too, right?" She asked, hopeful to see her former best friend and her old crush again.

"You called?"

The hairs on Ino's neck rose when suddenly the warm breath of her childhood friend tickled her skin. Sakura, her hair held up in a single ponytail, stood next to the Yamanaka and leaned heavily on her shoulder, an arm already sneaking down her back and toward the waist.

"Sakura? You've been _here_ all the time?" Ino asked, half-stunned, half-desperate. "I've looked for you in Konoha... and Team 7's been here? _All the time_?"

"Bureaucratic mess-up," grunted a third, unannounced voice.

She looked over to the source of the voice and saw Sasuke sitting down on an empty barrel, a weirdly deformed cigarette dangling from his lips.

Before Ino had the chance to revert to her old instincts and glomp him, Sakura spoke up again: "After Kakashi died we got lost in the paperwork... not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Even though her eyes were now focused on the pink-haired girl – better yet, young woman – she noticed how the Uchiha flicked a second one of the cigarettes to the blond who still lazed in the hay.

She shook her head briefly and refocused on her old friend. "Got lost in the paperwork? How the hell does a team simply get lost?"

"Beats me," Naruto commented, swinging his legs – the toothpick had now been replaced by a cigarette. "We got some theories... of course... but hell if we know whether they're valid or not."

Ino wanted to say something, anything, really, but although her mouth was open, no words formed. She had finally found Team 7... but under what circumstances? They had lived for over two years in Ichikazo and never returned to Konoha; it also seemed as if they had never even entertained the thought to return.

Before Ino's thoughts could go any further, the metallic sound of a bell ripped her from her contemplations. It may have been her imagination, but it felt as if Sakura had tensed in the short moment the bell had been rung.

"Ah, Ino-chan... seems as if catching up with you has to wait a bit," Naruto said, yawning and stretching. "Eh, your highness, can you stand up straight and walk without looking like a fucking moron?"

Naruto had clearly spoken with Sasuke, but Ino heard them and couldn't help but wonder. Why would the prodigal Uchiha be unable to walk straight? She turned back to Sakura, only to see the pink-haired girl taking a deep hit from the deformed cigarette that had till then hung between Naruto's lips.

"Sasuke, this' a pretty hard mix," Sakura mumbled and received a grunt in acknowledgment.

Ino looked over to the Uchiha, and was shocked to see him slumped against a house wall barely awake. Even a newly minted Genin could have murdered him on the spot...

"Looks like it's your turn," Sakura said and turned to the blond maverick. "I'm too lazy and Sasuke's nearly asleep. Make it quick, will you?"

"... Hai, hai."

Naruto crawled out of the hay, dusting himself off, and stretched a few times. "Hey, Ino-chan, you should walk with me if you want to see some action. Sakura and Sasuke are going to be pretty boring for the next few hours."

Somehow, his chuckle wasn't reassuring at all for the already confused Yamanaka. "Action? Boring? What the hell is going on here? Why didn't you come back to Konoha? What does the bell mean?"

"_Yare, yare_... so many questions – slow down a bit, nobody's runnin' away. There will be enough time to explain some things after we've taken care of business."

And with those words, the blond vaulted over a fence and then jumped over the wooden palisade that separated Ichikazo from the outside. Ino quickly followed him, but was completely underwhelmed by the sight that she came upon... _sand_; countless grains of sand that formed themselves into the vast and endless desert. No vegetation, no plants, no stones, no nothing – it was truly depressing and she didn't even came close to understand where some kind of action could be found in this barren place.

"Eleven o'clock," Naruto's voice interrupted her musings.

She focused on the area the blond had indicated, and after narrowing her eyes until they were slits, she finally saw _something_.

Something that became larger and larger and that with rapid speed. It didn't take long for her to finally deduct what the _something_ was, and dozens of curses left her uncouth mouth. Next to her, Naruto stood just as lazily as he had done when they had started talking, apparently not bothered by the gigantic sandstorm that was heading their way.

"Naruto?" She asked, a bit of fright entering her voice.

"Relax," the blond replied and yawned before he knelt on the ground and raced through dozens of hand signs. "We've had this problem quite often over the last two years. Just goes to show that there are always more solutions to a problem than just one."

Ino noticed the wistful tone and saw that Naruto had closed his eyes in concentration. "What are you talking about?"

"Eh, Sasuke has this whole fire thing going for him, you know?" Naruto asked, not really expecting an answer. "Still the same genius as always, just stands there for minutes and turns everything even remotely sandy into glass. Well, he couldn't do that today, obviously. Probably would've burned himself."

Then, Naruto slapped both palms on the ground and his eyes snapped open. Both of his cerulean orbs were lit with barely tamable power and the wind currents around them picked up quickly.

"Me?" Naruto continued, his voice strained but still filled with mirth. "I'm a Futon user. Just give me a minute, and I'll infuse my own currents into the storm."

Yamanaka Ino didn't bother to reply and merely sunk to her knees, observing the spectacle. Her finely tuned senses were tingling six ways to Sunday from all the chakra that was being released next to her, and for a few seconds she even saw large wisps of blue energy in the sandstorm before it was slowly lead away from the village.

Seeing pure chakra with the bare eye was... _unusual_. She looked over to Naruto who wasn't even sweating, thought back to what she had learned of Sasuke and Sakura in the last thirty minutes, and groaned.

Yes, she had found Team 7 – which hadn't even been her mission, but she doubted that they would fit into Konoha as they were.

One thing was clear, they hadn't slacked off after Kakashi died; _perhaps_, even becoming monsters in their own right.

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**AN:** And, that's it. How can a team get lost due to a bureaucratic fuck up, you ask? I imagine it went something like this: the Sandaime was dead, Kakashi died on some kind of mysterious side mission while his team was in Ichikazo, and Jirayja didn't find Naruto to bring Tsunade back (He did it himself in the end, but that way the Hokage never knew the blond).

It would still take quite a bit of hammering out other circumstances before a village could justify 'forgetting' a Jinchuriki and the last Uchiha, but meh, the idea is what it is... perhaps, one day, I'll make more out of it. Who knows.


End file.
